


The Space Between Us

by Erandri



Series: Buddie First Kiss Week [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angry Kissing, Buddie First Kiss Week, Buddie First Kiss Week 2020, Episode: s03e05 Rage, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24546229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erandri/pseuds/Erandri
Summary: Buck shuts off his Jeep, staring with trepidation up at Eddie’s house. The light in the living room is still on so Buck knows that he’s still awake, and it’s late enough after Chris’s bedtime that he shouldn’t be woken up by a knock at the door. Slowly, Buck makes his way up the driveway. It feels like so long since he’s been here, but nothing about the house has changed. Eddie’s truck is still parked in the same place it always is, the driveway has the same cracks, the door is the same door that Buck has stood in front of a thousand times before. Except that it’s not, not really.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Buddie First Kiss Week [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769176
Comments: 4
Kudos: 226





	The Space Between Us

**Author's Note:**

> Getting this up a day late since I accidentally spent most of my time yesterday writing for the wrong prompt.
> 
> Written for [Buddie First Kiss Week](https://buddiefirstkissweek.tumblr.com/) , Day 3: After a Fight

Buck shuts off his Jeep, staring with trepidation up at Eddie’s house. The light in the living room is still on so Buck knows that he’s still awake, and it’s late enough after Chris’s bedtime that he shouldn’t be woken up by a knock at the door. Slowly, Buck makes his way up the driveway. It feels like so long since he’s been here, but nothing about the house has changed. Eddie’s truck is still parked in the same place it always is, the driveway has the same cracks, the door is the same door that Buck has stood in front of a thousand times before. Except that it’s not, not really.

Before, Buck would have let himself into the house without a second thought. He would have walked in like it was his own home because that’s what it felt like, home. But that was weeks ago, before the lawsuit, before the argument in the grocery store today, before Buck felt like a stranger to his own family.

He knows that he needs to make things right. That he needs to explain what he was thinking when he decided to sue the city, and he knows that he needs to start here. That doesn’t make it any less difficult to raise his hand and knock on the door, something he hasn’t done since the very first time he came here almost two years ago.

He takes a step back and waits, hearing noises inside telegraphing Eddie’s walk to the door. When the door finally does open, Eddie is standing there in his sweatpants and an old threadbare t-shirt. For a second, Buck is filled with the familiar want that usually accompanies seeing Eddie like this, in his softer moments. The feeling passes when Eddie’s expression goes from confusion to anger.

For a moment Buck is worried that Eddie will slam the door in his face, he can actually see Eddie’s hand flexing on the doorknob. “Can we talk?” he asks quietly and for a moment they stand there in limbo. Buck has no idea what Eddie’s going to do next, he has a suspicion that Eddie doesn’t know either. He looks up at Eddie through his lashes, feeling small like he hasn’t in years, hoping that Eddie still feels enough for their friendship to at least let him in.

After what feels like forever, Eddie sighs and walks away, letting the door open the rest of the way, a silent invitation for Buck to enter. He perks up a little, and follows Eddie in, softly shutting the door behind him. When he turns back around Eddie is already in the kitchen. Buck follows him slowly, feeling like a child about to be scolded as he comes to a stop in front of Eddie.

“Well?” Eddie asks, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. He’s the very picture of closed off and Buck sighs, knowing already that this probably isn’t going to go the way that he hoped.

“I wanted to apologize,” he says, making sure to look Eddie directly in the eye as he says it, “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you I was going to go through with the lawsuit before I did it. I’m sorry I told that lawyer so much of your personal stuff. I’m sorry that I made you feel like I was abandoning you.”

“Is that it?” Eddie asks, sounding even angrier than he had when he was yelling at him this morning. He wonders just how long Eddie has been stewing in this anger. Since Buck announced the lawsuit? Since the accident? Or maybe even from before that.

“What more do you want?” he asks. He’s tired of feeling like he has to explain everything he’s done to everyone. He can’t understand why they can’t see things from his side.

“How about an explanation?” Eddie asks, finally pushing off of the counter and showing some real emotion for the first time since he opened the door.

“You seriously don’t understand why I did it?” Now _he’s_ getting angry. How could the people closest to him, the people he spends sixty plus hours with every week, the people he considered his family, not understand why he would be fighting tooth and nail to get back to them? How could Eddie not understand the fact that all Buck wants is for things to go back to normal? Even if that means temporarily taking a step away. Eddie doesn’t say anything and Buck realizes that Eddie honestly doesn’t understand why Buck put them all through this. He thinks that it was just so he could get back to the job, not so that he could get back to _them_.

Feeling bold in a way he hasn’t since he walked back into that lawyer’s office, he marches across the kitchen. It only takes a couple of quick strides to cover the distance between them in Eddie’s small kitchen. Eddie straightens up as he advances towards him but with the counter behind him, there’s nowhere for him to go. Buck uses it to his advantage, grabbing Eddie by the neck and kissing him.

He puts everything he has into it, tilting Eddie’s head just the way he wants it, pulling Eddie into him and wrapping his arms around him. He doesn’t let the kiss last long but he uses those precious few seconds to put every ounce of longing he feels into it.

“That’s why,” he says when he breaks the kiss, feeling out of breath as he pulls away. Eddie looks stunned, his eyes glazed over and his cheeks flushed. As if he’s doing it unconsciously, Buck watches as Eddie’s tongue darts out to lick his lips. But he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t punch Buck, which is a plus, but he also isn’t giving any indication that that’s something that he wanted.

Sighing, Buck takes a step back. When Eddie still doesn’t react, he turns and leaves, his eyes burning as he walks towards the front door. He should have expected this, he should have known that Eddie wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings.

He’s almost to the front door when a rough hand spins him around and slams him against it. There’s a flash of worry where he thinks _this is it,_ that this is where Eddie punches him and tells him that he never wants to see him again. The punch never lands. Instead, Eddie pulls him down and crashes their lips together.

Buck feels like he’s being consumed. Everything in him is attuned to the man in his arms, screaming _Eddie is kissing him!_ Eddie deepens the kiss and Buck moans into it, feeling his knees go a little wobbly. Finally, his brain catches up and Buck starts kissing him back, earning him a pleased moan from Eddie.

“Don’t ever do it again,” Eddie all but growls at him. Buck doesn’t know if he means the lawsuit, or him leaving, or the accident, or what but he’ll agree to anything. He nods in agreement before pulling Eddie back in for another kiss. It’s an easy promise to make when he doesn’t plan on ever letting go of Eddie again.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> You can find me on [Tumblr](http://erandri.tumblr.com/)


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